Margaret Good supports Donald Trump impeachment

Democratic Congressional candidate Margaret Good says the House must impeach President Donald Trump.

“After carefully considering the evidence, it is clear the President violated his oath of office and undermined our national security when he put his interests above our country’s by attempting to bribe a foreign power to investigate a political rival,” Good said.

“I support the articles of impeachment because this is an abuse of power, and now more than ever, we must protect our Constitution and put country over politics.”

The Democrat supports both articles of impeachment the House will consider today.

But Manatee County Republicans slammed Good’s statement.

““It’s nice to see Margaret Good finally come out of hiding after spending the last two months avoiding the issue of impeachment,” said Manatee GOP Chairwoman Kathleen King.

“Unfortunately for her, the people of Manatee county strongly oppose this partisan political impeachment process. They will not forget this or forgive her for supporting the removal of a duly elected president from office.  Rest assured, voters will make sure she pays a steep price at the ballot box next November.”

Good, who this summer announced her candidacy against U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, had not taken a firm position on an impeachment vote before. The Sarasota state lawmaker did issue a statement in September that signaled caution and trepidation about the process.

“Part of this narrative now seems to be that no matter who is in the White House, the other party will try to impeach. That cannot be how we view each other or how we view our elected leaders,” she said at the time. “I oppose using the impeachment process for political gamesmanship because it deepens party divides and ultimately divides us as Americans. I believe we need to bring our country together and, therefore would never support any impeachment proceedings that I believe are unwarranted.”

That statement was widely viewed as an attempt at moderation and distancing herself from what was being criticized on the right as a partisan exercise. But Good’s team said her comments then are not inconsistent with her support for impeachment now.

The campaign points to other parts of her original statement making clear she was troubled by allegations Trump used his position to “pressure a foreign government into investigating a political opponent.”

“If true, such actions represented a threat to our national security, our election process, and ultimately our democracy,” she said then.

She also said the House needed to investigate further, which has taken place. She then asserted the White House should release all evidence available surrounding the allegations. While the White House provided a transcript of a call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a number of administration officials and Trump associates, including Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, have not testified to Congress.

Buchanan, a seven-term Republican Representative, is widely expected to vote against impeachment. He tweeted when the impeachment inquiry launches that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was “enormous mistake by launching the first partisan impeachment in history. It sets a dangerous precedent. Our Founding Fathers created the best way to remove a President — it’s called an election, and the next one is less than a year away!”

Notably, Trump in 2016 carried Florida’s 16^th Congressional District, where Buchanan and Good will face off next year. That’s likely part of why Good’s statement came out only on the day of the final House vote. But as that vote has neared, the majority of Trump district Democrats have also come out in favor of impeachment.